John Mason said he and his family are devastated by the death of his younger brother, Jeffrey, but are relieved they can finally give him a proper burial.
The man was one of the speakers at a funeral service for 37-year-old Jeffrey Mason Friday morning at Lougheed's Funeral Home on Regent St. About 75 people attended the service.
“On Thursday, November 16, 2006, our lives were turned upside down by these terrible acts of violence. Jeff was missing, and we could not find him,” said John.
“Our soldier was lost in the battlefield of what we call life. I recall all of the news that we were receiving at the time, and how minutes turned into hours, hours into days, days became weeks and weeks became months. We lost him on a Thursday and we found him on a Thursday...
“It became so important to find his body so we could have this Christian burial and put him to rest after such an ordeal. We needed to do right by him, and finally we
have achieved that goal.”
Jeffrey Mason was reported missing from his Dowling home last Nov. 16. His home was burned to the ground and police later found his car burned in a laneway in Minnow Lake. Police say both incidents involved arson.
Last week, two anglers fishing near the Stobie Dam, which separates Vermilion River and Vermilion Lake, discovered a body.
A post-mortem was conducted Friday and police confirmed the body was Mason’s. There were obvious signs of trauma on Mason’s body and police have started an official homicide investigation.
United Church minister Dawn Vaneyk tried to help the friends and family members gathered at the service to find meaning in the man's death.
“We stand in a tunnel of sorrow that is laced with the added burden of anger and questions and mystery. We stand in sorrow that is intensely personal and private for a circle of family and friends,” she said.
“Jeff's death came too soon and at the hands of others, and that terrible truth will never go away. But it is this family's wish that today's service not be a time to stand in the shadows, but to let the light of Jeff's life shine forth.”
John, who was 11 when Jeffrey was born, remembers him a beautiful young child with white-blond hair and sparkling blue eyes.
“In my mind's eye, he was everything a little boy could or should be. We loved him very much, and these memories are so treasured.”
Jeffrey moved to Nova Scotia with his parents when he was 17, and helped them run a farm there. He went to vocational school in Nova Scotia and became a welder. His parents moved back to the Greater Sudbury area a few years later, and Jeffrey followed them.
“He was eager, a good worker, and he gained employment with many local contractors and various companies (as a welder),” said John.
“He was happiest being creative, and enjoyed putting his personal signature of job well done on everything he did. There were no half measures. If a job was worth doing, it was worth doing well.”
Jeff was working as a welder at Sandvik Mining and Construction in Lively at the time of his death. Although he never married or had any children, his brother said he lived his life to the fullest and was loved by many.
When their father, Malcolm, died in 2003, he moved in with his mother, Frances, and took care of the family farm in Levack. He had just purchased the farm for himself last August.
Jeffrey's sister, Cathy, said she finds it hard to believe her younger brother, Jeffrey, will not grow old alongside her.
Because Jeffrey is just two years younger, he was her constant childhood companion. “We played roller-hockey, tag, baseball, hide-and-seek. The list goes on. We were out until mom called us in for the night,” she said.
The woman said she and her brother continued to playfully compete even as adults. “We competed in ping-pong games, and it drove him nuts that I kept winning until he discovered my weak back hand.”
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